OCR Text |
Show Hauling and Spreading Manure. From Farmers' Review:' Every good farmer economizes time during , the winter months as much as possible, possi-ble, in hauling manure to such fields as most need fertilizing. All, bow-ever, bow-ever, do not use. the best practical means in piling or spreading It. The most serious mistake is in throwing it in irregular' piles, and too far apart for easy handling. Too many, also, fail to break up and spread the heaps early enough In the spring. Except in hilly ground, It is prefer-I prefer-I able to spread as it is hauled out, especially; if ft Is jgreen - manure.. Where manure is'"hauled" at Intervals Inter-vals In the winter, and upon .frozen ground, the frost will often be held under the heaps until long. after the land is fit for plowing. Among the first operations in the. spring and this will apply especially to those portions of the farm and the garden that are heavily manured Is to break up the heaps so the soil beneath may become thawed as soon as the surrounding sur-rounding surface. If the heaps are small and close togetner, the necessity neces-sity of breaking up the heaps Is not so great, but small heaps, fairly equal distant from each other, are exceptions excep-tions rather than the rule. Precise work In many things always pays. When green and strawy manure is used, to be plowed under, it does not make so much difference if it lies spread some time before being plowed under. Therefore It may be roughly spread early In the season and a good harrowing will distribute it evenly enough, so It may easily be turned under. But In this long condition it is not In the best state for light soils, or those that do not require to be rendered more open; for all' such soils, It is better that it be thoroughly - disintegrated and decomposed by composting, com-posting, and, in fact, it Is better that all decomposed manures be left In heaps, so far as possible, until the land is ready for plowing. The reason Is that there is less washing over, perhaps away from the soil, rather than into it, because compost Is readily read-ily soluble. Again, in composting manure for light soils, a clayey soil Is best as a divisor, since It stiffens and adds stability to all sandy soils. Our plan has always been to break up the piles of manure, with a pick, early in the spring, to as to admit . , . air and assist in releasing the frost beneath the piles. Those who ha."' experienced the difficulty In properly plowing the soil, when the share strikes a sub-stratum of frozen soil, beneath, -will realize the Importance of taking care of the manure, so the plowing may be properly accomplished, accom-plished, especially If one waits for manure and the frozen soil underneath under-neath to thaw out naturally. Rainy weather may. set in, and perhaps prevent pre-vent getting in a crop, sometimes two weeks after the proper time of seeding. seed-ing. Gardaners, especially, will understand un-derstand this. Gardeners also understand under-stand the value of a manure spreader where compost i3 to be applied. Jonathan Periam. Do Apple Trees Exhaust the Soil? Apple trees are not as hard on soils as many have supposed, if we will keep the soil in proper physical condition. con-dition. A bulletin issued by Cornell University shows that in a single year a crop of apples will remove, for the fruit from a single acre, 13 pounds ot nitrogen, 1 pound of phosporic acid; and 19 pounds of potash. The leaves on the trees which produce this crop of fruit will require 19 pounds of nitrogen, ni-trogen, 5.2 pounds of phosphoric acid and 18.4 pounds of potash. The tree growth will require 9.4 pounds of nitrogen, 3.6 pounds of phosphoric acid and 8.8 pounds of potash. . This look3 to be a severe strain on the soil, yet I believe that, all things considered, apples are about half as hard on soil as corn, assuming that all of each crop is permanently removed from the soil. Prof. Clothier. Mice Out of Apple Seed. With a fine needle draw black sewing sew-ing silk through the pointed end of a good fat apple seed and clip it to about the proper length for ears. Then with a sharp penknife shave a narrow strip from the under or flat side ot the seed and turn it out at the other nd for the tail. Now pass the needle through a white card and through the seed near the tail, and again through the card, drawing it down snugly. Repeat Re-peat the same at the ear end and you have a very realistic mouse. American Amer-ican Boy. Not Infrequently the oat crop sutlers sut-lers very greatly from the presence ot smut. It will pay any farmer to give this question a thorough, investigation investi-gation and to make arrangements this winter tor dipping the 8ee4 oats aext spring. |